The present invention relates to a controlling apparatus for controlling a position of an electromagnetically operated engine valve for an internal combustion engine in which a spring is used to bias the engine valve toward a substantially half open position and the engine valve is held at one of two positions viz., at one of closure and open positions before an engine is started.
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Heisei 10-18820 (JP10018820) published on Jan. 20, 1998 exemplifies a previously proposed electromagnetically operated engine valve for an internal combustion engine.
In the previously proposed electromagnetically operated engine valve, a biasing force exerted by means of a pair of upper and lower springs causes a valve body to the engine valve to be supported at a half open position (also called, a neutral position).
Then, an electromagnetic force is acted upon an armature associated with the valve body so that the valve body is displaced to a valve full open or full closure position. An initialization such as to hold the valve at the valve full open or closure position is carried out before the engine is started.
Thereafter, when the valve is to be opened, the power supply to a valve closing electromagnet is turned off to de-energize the coil portion thereof so that the biasing force of the pair of springs causes the valve body to be moved toward a valve open direction. When the armature approaches sufficiently to a valve opening electromagnet, the power supply to a coil portion of the valve opening electromagnet is turned on to energize the coil portion of the valve opening electromagnet. Thus, the armature is attracted on the valve opening electromagnet and the valve body is held at the full open position.
On the other hand, when the valve is to be closed, the power supply to the valve opening electromagnet is turned off to de-energize the coil portion thereof so that the biasing force exerted by the pair of springs causes the armature to be separated from the valve opening electromagnet and to be moved toward the valve closing electromagnet. When the armature approaches sufficiently to the valve closing electromagnet, the power supply to the valve closing electromagnet is carried out to energize the coil portion of the valve closing electromagnet so that the armature is attracted onto the valve closing electromagnet and the valve body is held at the valve full closure position. As described above, an engine valve open-and-closure control is carried out.
It is natural that, in a case where the engine stops for a relatively long time such as a case where an automotive vehicle in which the above-described engine is mounted parks, at the same time when the engine has been stopped according to a vehicular driver""s own decision, the power supply to both of the valve opening and closing electromagnetic coil portions should be turned off so as to save an electric power consumption.
However, suppose a case where the engine is stopped with the ignition switch turned to ON not according to the driver""s own decision (so-called, an engine stall). In this case, if the power supply to each of the valve opening and valve closing electromagnet coil portions is turned off, it is necessary to carry out the initialization such that the engine valve is newly held at either the full open position or full closure position when the engine is restarted. Consequently, the electric power has been consumed.
In addition, in an idle stop vehicle for a recent environment measure in which the engine is automatically stopped when the vehicle stops in an engine idling state for such as a signal turn wait, such an initialization as described above needs to be carried out whenever the vehicle is started after the idle stop (the vehicle stops with the engine idling state halted).
This does not only save the power consumption but also make a delay in a vehicle start. This delay in the vehicle start may bring out a promotion of a traffic congestion.
With the above-described problem in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electromagnetically operated engine valve position controlling apparatus for an internal combustion engine which enables a quick restart of the engine, saving an electric power consumption.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a position of an electromagnetically operated engine valve for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a spring to bias the engine valve at a neutral position of the engine valve between an open position and a closure position thereof; a first electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the open position and hold the engine valve at the open position when energized; a second electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the closure position and hold the engine valve at the closure position when energized; a condition determinator to determine whether a predetermined condition required to restart the engine in a period of time shorter than a predetermined period of time after the engine stops is established; and a controller to control a turn on-and-off of a power supply to each of the first and second electromagnets to displace the engine valve between the open and closure positions, the controller being responsive to hold the engine valve at one of the open and closure positions for the predetermined period of time after the engine stops when the condition determinator determines that the predetermined condition required to restart the engine is established.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a position of an electromagnetically operated engine valve for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a spring to bias the engine valve toward a neutral position between an open position of the engine valve and a closure position thereof; a first electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the open position and hold the engine valve at the open position when energized; a second electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the closure position and hold the engine valve at the closure position when energized; an ignition switch; an ignition switch state determinator to determine whether the ignition switch is turned to ON when the engine stops; and a controller to control a turn on-and-off of a power supply to each of the first and second electromagnets to displace the engine valve between the open position and the closure position, the controller being responsive to hold the engine valve at one of the open and closure positions for a predetermined period of time after the engine stops when the ignition switch state determinator determines that the ignition switch is turned to ON when the engine stops.
According to a still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a position of an electromagnetically operated engine valve for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a spring to bias the engine valve toward a neutral position between an open position of the engine valve and a closure position thereof; a first electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the open position and hold the engine valve at the open position when energized; a second electromagnet to attract the engine valve toward the closure position and hold the engine valve at the closure position when energized; an ignition switch; an ignition switch state determinator to determine whether the ignition switch is turned to OFF when the engine stops and this OFF state of the ignition switch is caused by a failure in a cranking operation; and a controller to control a turn on-and-off of a power supply to each of the first and second electromagnets to displace the engine valve between the open position and the closure position, the controller being responsive to hold the engine valve at one of the open and closure positions for a predetermined period of time after the engine stops when the ignition switch state determinator determines that the ignition switch is turned to OFF when the engine stops and the OFF state of the ignition switch is caused by the failure in the cranking operation.
This disclosure of the invention does not necessarily describe all necessary features so that the invention may also be a sub-combination of these described